EP0043285B2

EP0043285B2 - Method for determination of valproic acid and reagents therein

Info

Publication number: EP0043285B2
Application number: EP81302975A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Noriyuki Sunahara; Shunsuke Naruto; Akira Kagemoto; Shigeru Kurooka; Kanae Yokogawa
Original assignee: Dainippon Pharmaceutical Co Ltd
Current assignee: Sumitomo Pharma Co Ltd
Priority date: 1980-07-01
Filing date: 1981-06-30
Publication date: 1988-06-22
Also published as: DE3161834D1; US4443365A; JPS5714748A; JPH0115826B2; EP0043285B1; EP0043285A1

Description

The present invention relates to the immunochemical determination of valproic acid.
Valproic acid is a lower fatty acid which was first synthesized by Burton in 1881 and has the following chemical formula:
(valproic acid)
In 1963, Meunier discovered the antiepileptic activity of its sodium salt.
Nowadays, sodium valproate is widely used for the treatment of various types of epilepsy (minor seizure, focal seizure, psycomotor seizure and mixed seizure) or emotional behaviour disturbance (ill temper, rage) accompanied by epilepsy.
It is well known that sodium valproate has side effects such as drowsiness, dizziness, headache, nausea and emesis, anorexia, gastrointestinal disorder, constipation, general malaise, eruption, hepatic dysfunction etc., and the side effects tend to be manifested as the blood level of sodium valproate increases. The blood level necessary for therapeutic effect is in the range of 50-100 l1g/ml.
It is also known that the blood level of sodium valproate varies in the individual case even if the same dose per weight was administered to patient. This is dueto differences among individuals in adsorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and possible interaction of sodium valproate with other drugs administered in parallel. It has therefore been found necessary to maintain a suitable blood level by administering the drug in accordance with the measured blood level of each individual patient in order to minimize side effects.
For this reason, it has been desired to develop a rapid, precise and simple method for determination of valproic acid.
EP-A 0 028 795 discloses reagents for use in the quantitative determination of valproic acid by substrate immunoassay. The assay procedure involves preparing a test sample containing an enzyme and an antibody for valproic acid and adding a [i-galactosyl-umbelliferone-valproic acid conjugate thereto. The enzyme reacts with free conjugate to generate fluorescence, the intensity of fluorescence being greater the higher the valproic acid concentration.
Clinical Chemistry, 25 (6), 1093 Abstract 155, (1979) discloses a valproic acid assay employing an enzyme the activity of which decreases when bonded to an antibody.
Chemical Abstracts, 92, 69168C compares the results obtainable with enzyme immunoassay, gas-liquid chromatography and high pressure liquid chromatography in the determination of antiepileptic drugs and concludes that gas-liquid chromatography is preferred for valproic acid. Chemical Abstracts, 92, 87769d describes inter- boratory variability in the determination by var-, ious methods, including enzyme immunoassay, of antiepileptic drug concentration.
Of the current assay procedures for valproic acid, gas-liquid chromatography method is the most widely used. However, for routine clinical use, this method has such disadvantages as requiring large samples (0.5 to 1 ml or more of serum), a pretreatment such as extraction and special apparatus.
We considered that, if an antibody having specific affinity for valproic acid could be obtained, valproic acid might be determined by various immunochemical techniques (enzymoimmunoassay, radioimmunoassay, fluoroimmunoassay, spin immunoassay) which require only small samples and no pretreatment of the samples.
However, it has been considered that an antibody against valproic acid is difficult to produce because it has a simple lower fatty acid structure and various analogues of valproic acid are present in the blood of immunized animals.
We synthesized several derivatives of valproic acid (Table 1) as haptens, prepared antigens by binding the haptens to protein and obtained antibodies by immunizing animals with the antigens. Then, we prepared valproic acid derivatives labelled with an enzyme, checked their binding capacity with the antibodies through the reaction between antigens and antibodies, and investigated competitive binding capacity between valproic acid and labelled antigens against antibodies.
The results are shown in Table 1. It can be clearly seen from Table 1 that binding capacity with the antigen was satisfactory in all the antibodies against the corresponding compounds, but highly competitive reaction between the labelled antigen and valproic acid was observed only in antibodies against the compounds No. 6 and No. 7. The above results made it clear that the competitive reactivity between the labelled antigen and valproic acid was insufficient in antibodies against the compounds (No. 2-No. 5) in which (1) the carboxyl group or (2) the a-hydrogen atom of valproic acid was modified, and valproic acid itself (No. 1), whereas said competitive reactivity was sufficient in antibodies against the compounds (No. 6 and No. 7) in which (3) at least one of the propyl group of valproic acid was modified. From other experiments, it was confirmed that said competitive reaction is little affected by metabolites of valproic acid, other drugs or amino acids existing in blood.
The present invention provides compounds of the formula
wherein n is an integer from 3 to 8, A is -NH- or =N-, W is a group of the formula
wherein U is -NH-, =CH- or group of the formula
U¹ is C₁-C₅ alkylene or phenylene which may be substituted by methyl, U² is -CO-, p, q and r are each 0, 1 or 2, and Z is a protein residue, or salts thereof.
In formule (I) Z preferably is a residue of albumin, globulin or an enzyme.
The present invention also provides a compound of the formula (I) produced by binding a compound of the formula
or salts thereof, where n is an integer from 3 to 8, with a protein, directly or with a help of a binding agent, said binding resulting in the conversion of the H₂N- group into a group _-W-A- as defined above.
Examples of compounds of formula (II) include 7-amino-2-propylheptanoic acid and 5-amino-2-propylpentanoic acid.
The invention also provides antibodies which are obtained by immunizing an animal with a compound of formula (I) or a salt thereof.
The invention further provides a kit suitable for immunoassay of valproic acid comprising separately stored component A and component B wherein
Component A is an antibody obtained by immunizing an animal with a compound of formula I or salt thereof and
Component B is an enzyme labelled antigen which is a compound of formula (I) or a salt thereof wherein Z is an enzyme residue.
Z preferably is β-galactosidase, bonded at other than its reactive site.
The invention still further provides a method for determination of valproic acid which comprises (a) mixing a test sample containing valproic acid with an antibody obtained by immunizing an animal with a compound of formula (I) or salt thereof and an excess of the enzyme-labelled antigen, (b) allowing the antibody to bind with valproic acid and the labelled antigen competitively, and (c) measuring the activity of bound or free labelled antigen.
Suitable C₁-C_S alkylene groups are methylene, ethylene, propylene, trimethylene, tetramethylene and pentamethylene.
The preferred linking groups and binding reagents used for obtaining such linking groups are shown in Table 2.
Suitable protein may include a albumin, globulin, thyroglobulin, shellfish hemocyanin, edestin and enzymes. The protein may be fixed on water-insoluble substance.
Suitable salts may include conventional salts such as alkali metal salts, alkaline earth metal salts, ammonium salts and salts with organic amines, organic acids, or inorganic acids.
The compound of formula (I) according to the invention can be prepared by reacting a compound (II) with functional groups such as -NH₂, -SH, -COOH etc. of proteins or modified proteins, which are obtained by introducing functional groups into the proteins, directly or with a help of binding reagents, according to any means known to those skilled in the art.
Said means include glutaraldehyde method, dimaleimide method, MBS method, mixed anhydride method, carbodiimide method and toluene diisocyanate method which were reported in Clin. Chem. Acta, 81, 1 (1977) and Pharmacol. Reviews, 29, 103 (1978). The method of introducing mercapto group into protein was reported in Arch. Biochem. Biophys., 96, 605 (1962) and that of introducing halogenoacetyl group was reported in Jour. Biol. Chem., 246,2594 (1971).
Suitable molar ratio of the compound (II): a protein may be 1-30:1 and the ratio can be controlled by changing the number of moles of the compound (II) used for reaction.
Some of the compounds (II) having -NH₂ and their preparation method are described in Chem. Ber. 32, 3692 (1890), and others can be prepared, for example, according to the following processes.

wherein n is 3 to 8.

The antibodies for the immunoassay according to the invention can be prepared by injecting subcutaneously the compound of formula (I) with suitable adjuvant into an animal such as rabbit, guinea-pig, goat, sheep etc., bleeding and treating the obtained blood in the conventional manner.
Said antibodies may be insolubilized by binding with insoluble substances such as bacterial cell walls, natural insoluble polysaccharides such as cellulose, chemically treated dextran gels, agar gels, plastic beads, acrylamide gels, glass beads, metal oxide powders such as Fe ₃0₄ etc., which facilitate the B/F separation process described after. The plastic beads include polypropylene beads, polyethylene beads, polycarbonate beads and polystyrene beads. The acrylamide gels include polymer gels prepared from acrylamide, N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide, N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl ethylenediamine and catalyst such as ammonium persulfate or riboflavin and light.
The insoluble substances can be bound to the antibodies by the conventional manner. For example, the plastic beads can be bound to the antibodies by dipping the plastic beads in a bicarbonate buffer (pH 9.6) solution containing an antibody. The bacterial cell walls can be bound chemically by using glutaraldehyde. The acrylamide gels can be bound chemically by diazo-coupling after reacting the acrylamide gels with ethylene diamine followed by p-nitrobenzoyl azide and sodium hydrosulfite. The glass beads can be bound chemically by using glutaraldehyde after silylating with 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane. The cellulose can be bound chemically by activating with cyanogen bromide or converting into its azido- carbonylmethyl derivative. The agar gels and dextran gels can be bound by activating with cyanogen bromide. The Fe _a0₄ powders can be bound by granulating together with cellulose and activating with cyanogen bromide [Biotech. Bioeng., 15, 603 (1973)] or by granulating together with polyacrylamide agarose gel and using glutaraldehyde [Immunochemistry, 14, 443 (1977)]. The antibodies insolubilized by the last process are convenient because they can be separated with magnet.
In the component B of the kit according to the invention, suitable enzyme residue may include a group derived from β-galactosidase, peroxidase, lipase, alkaliphosphatase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase or glucose oxidase. These enzymes can be linked by the same technique as that described for a protein.
The kit may contain standard solutions of valproic acid for preparing the standard curve, reagents for measuring activity of the enzyme labelled antigen (for example, substrate, solvent for substrate and enzyme reaction stopping agent), the second antibody or buffering agent, in addition to the components A and B.
In the method for determination of valproic acid according to the invention, the bound and free enzyme labelled antigens are separated before measuring the activity (B/F separation), when the antibody is insoluble. The B/F separation can be made, for example, by (1) fixing the antibody (component A) on insoluble substance such as bacterial cell walls before the reaction of antigen (component B), or (2) binding the antibody (component A) to second antibody against y-globulin (IgG) before, after or during the reaction with enzyme labelled antigen (component B). The second antibody is used as a solution in general, but can be fixed previously on insoluble substance. The insolubilization of second antibody has such advantages as to require smaller amount of the second antibody and shorter immuno-reaction time.
The activity of the enzyme labelled antigen can be measured by conventional method.
The following examples further illustrate the invention, but should not be construed as a limitation thereto.

Example 1

Preparation of 7-amino-2-propylheptanoic acid hydrochloride
Sodium (0.5 g) was dissolved in ethanol (7 ml) and diethylpropylmalonate (4.4g) was added to the solution. The resulting mixture was heated under reflux for 15 minutes. To the mixture was added N-(5-bromopentyl)phthalimide 6.4g) and the mixture was further heated under reflux for 4 hours. Then, ethanol was removed by distillation. The residue was treated with either and filtered. The filtrate was concentrated and the residue was chromatographed on silica gel column. A fraction eluted with 5% methanol in chloroform was recrystallized from a mixture of ether and hexane to give colorless crystals of diethyl 2-(5-phthalimidopentyl)-2-propylmalonate (m.p. 51-52°C, yield 3.7 g).
A mixture of diethyl 2-(5-phthalimidopen- tyl)-2-propylmalonate (6 g) and 26% hydrochloric acid (36 ml) was heated in a sealed tube at 190°C for 4 hours. After cooling, insoluble substance was removed by filtration. The filtrate was concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure and the residue was chromatographed on silica gel column. A fraction eluted with the upper phase of a mixture of butanol:acetic acid:water (4:1:5 volume by volume) was concentrated to dryness to give the desired compound as a colorless sticky oil (yield 1.3g). Anal. calcd. for C₁₀H₂₁NO₂ ·HCl·1/2 H₂O.

C, 51.60; H, 9.96; N, 6.02; Cl, 15.23% Found: C, 51.76; H, 9.83; N, 6.01; Cl, 15.04%
M+1 ion in chemical ionization mass spec- trometr^y: m/e 188

Example 2

Preparation of conjugate of 7-amino-2-propyl- heptanoic acid with Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA)
BSA (Bovine Serum albumin fraction V, Armour Pharm., Co., 600 mg) was dissolved in 0.2 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0, 30 ml). To the solution was added an aqueous solution (adjusted to pH 7.0 with NaHC0₃, 30 ml) of 7-amino-2-propyl- heptanoic acid hydrochloride (prepared in Example 1, 180 mg), followed by the dropwise addition of 0.02 M aqueous glutaraldehyde solution (30 ml). The mixture was stirred for 2 hours at ambient temperature. After adding 1 M lysine solution (pH 7.5, 3.0 ml), the mixture was further stirred for an hour and dialyzed for 48 hours against 0.15 M sodium chloride solution (2 litres) at 4°C, while the outer solution was renewed four times, then dialyzed against deionized water (2 litres) for 24 hours. The dialyzed solution was lyophilized to give the conjugate (550 mg).

Example 3

Preparation of conjugate of 7-amino-2-propyl- heptanoic acid with p-galactosidase
A solution of 7-amino-2-propylheptanoic acid hydrochloride (prepared in Example 1, 11.2 mg) in water (0.5 ml) was neutralized with sodium hydrogen carbonate. To the solution was added a solution of m-MBS (15.5 mg) in dioxane (60.5 ml) and allowed to react for 30 minutes at ambient temperature. Then the solution (0.4 ml) was added to a mixture of β-galactosidase (Boehrin- ger Mannheim G.m.b.H., 5 mg/ml suspension in ammonium sulfate solution, 100 µl) in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0, 2 ml) and allowed to react for an hour at ambient temperature. The reaction mixture was applied on a BioGel P-4 (BioRad Corp.) type I column (2.5x25cm) equilibrated with 0.9% sodium chloride-0.02 M phosphate buffer, and eluted with same buffer to obtain 5 ml fractions. The β-galactosidase activity of each fractions were measured. Fractions (Nos.6-8) with high enzyme activity were combined and stored in a 0.1% sodium azide (preservative) and 0.1% BSA (stabilizer) solution.

Example 4

Preparation of antiserum
The conjugate of valproic acid derivative with BSA prepared in Example 2 was dissolved in 0.9% aqueous sodium chloride solution to make a 1% solution. An equal volume of complete Freund's adjuvant was added to the solution and mixed to form a w/o type emulsion. The emulsion (1.0 ml) was injected into the bads (0.1 ml x 2 places) and the dorsal skin (0.1 ml x 8 places) of rabbits. After two weeks, the emulsion (0.5 ml) was injected again into the dorsal skin (0.1 ml x 5 places) of the same rabbits. The injection was repeated six times at two week intervals. Ten days after the final injections the rabbits were bled in order to prepare anti-valproic acid antiserum.

Example 5

Preparation of insoluble antibody
To the antiserum (5 ml) prepared in Example 4 was added 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0, 5 ml) and saturated ammonium sulfate solution (10 ml) under ice-cooling. The mixture was stirred for 20 minutes and centrifuged at 12000xg for 10 minutes to collect precipitates. The precipitates were dissolved in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0, 5 ml), reprecipitated with addition of equal amount of saturated ammonium sulfate solution and centrifuged at 12 000 × g for 10 minutes. The process was repeated twice and the obtained precipitates were dissolved in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0, 5 ml). The solution was dialyzed for 24 hours against 0.9% sodium chloride-0.02 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0, 2 I) at 4°C to obtain IgG-fraction (7 ml) of anti-valproic acid antiserum.
To a mixture of IgG-fraction (7 ml), cell walls of Lactobacillus plantarum (100 mg), water (11.6 ml) and 1 M acetate buffer (pH 4.9, 1 ml) was added 25% aqueous glutaraldehyde solution (0.4ml) with stirring. The mixture was stirred for 2 hours at ambient temperature and centrifuged at 12 000 × g for 10 minutes to collect precipitates. The precipitates were washed three times with 0.1% BSA-0.9% sodium chloride-0.1% sodium azide-0.04 M phosphate buffer (50 ml) using a centrifuge and suspended in the same buffer (25 ml).

Example 6

Preparation of a kit for immunoassay of valproic acid in blood (a kit for 50 assays)

(1) Standard solution «200».
- Sodium valproate (2.0 mg) was dissolved in water (100 ml). The solution (10 ml) was placed in a 100 ml volumetric flask, mixed with normal human serum (10 ml) and sodium azide (100 mg), and diluted to make a final volume of 100 ml.
(2) Standard solution «100»
- The standard solution «200» was diluted twofold with 0.1% sodium azide-10% normal human serum to prepare the standard solution «100».
(3) Standard solution «50»
- The standard solution «100» was diluted twofold with 0.1% sodium azide-10% normal human serum as described in (2) to prepare the standard solution «50».
(4) Standard solution «25»
- The standard solution «50» was diluted twofold with 0.1% sodium azide-10% normal human serum as described in (2) and (3) to prepare the standard solution «25».
(5) Standard solution «10»
- The standard solution «100» was diluted tenfold with 0.1% sodium azide-10% normal human serum to prepare the standard solution « 10 ».
(6) Standard solution «0»
- This was 0.1% sodium azide-10% normal human serum.
- Each solution (1 ml) described in (1)-(6) was placed in a 3 ml brown colored bottle.
(7) Enzyme-labelled antigen
- The solution of conjugate of 7-amino-2-propyl- heptanoic acid with β-galactosidase (110 µl) prepared in Example 3 was diluted with 0.1% BSA-0.1% sodium azide-0.9% sodium chloride-0.04M phosphate buffer (27.39 ml), and placed in a 30 ml brown colored bottle.
(8) Antibody
- The suspension of insoluble antibody (1250 µl) prepared in Example 5 was mixed with 0.25% cell wall-0.1% BSA-0.1% sodium azide-0.04 M phosphate buffer (10.75 ml), and placed in a 20 ml brown colored bottle.
(9) Substrate
- Powdery 2-nitrophenyl-β-galactopyranoside (44 mg) was placed in a 10 ml brown colored bottle.
(10) Substrate diluent
- 40% (w/v) Ethylene glycol-1 mM magnesium chloride-0.1%-sodium azide (5.5 ml) was placed in a 10 ml brown colored bottle.
(11) Reaction stopping agent
- 1 M Dipotassium phosphate-sodium hydroxide buffer (pH 11, 20 ml) was placed in a 20 ml plastic bottle.

Example 7

Method for determination of valproic acid in blood
Valproic acid in human blood was determined with the kit described in Example 6 according to the following procedure.
Preparation of test sample---Human serum was diluted tenfold with purified water (diluted test sample).
Preparation of substrate solution----The substrate diluent substrate was poured into the bottle containing the substrate to make into a homogeneous solution.
Dilution of reaction stopping agent - The reaction stopping agent was diluted tenfold with purified water.

[Assay procedure]

The diluted test sample (100 µl) and the standard solutions (each 100 µl) were pipetted into each test tubes. The labelled antigen (each 500 µl) and the suspension of antibody (each 200 µl) were pipetted into each test tube. Immediately, the test tubes were stirred and incubated for 60 minutes at 37°C. (During the incubation, the test tubes were stoppered with rubber caps.) After centrifugation, the test tubes were stirred again and the mixtures therein were centrifuged (1000 x g, 10 minutes) placing the test tubes upside down in order to stick the antibody to the inside wall of the caps. After centrifugation, the test tubes were placed in a normal position in order to return supernatants to the bottom of the test tubes, and the rubber caps with the antibody were removed.
The test tubes were placed in an incubator at 37°C. The substrate solution (each 100 liters) were added to each of the supernatants and the mixtures were incubated for 30 minutes. Then the diluted reaction stopping reagent (each 2.5 ml) was added to each of the mixtures to stop the enzyme reaction. Absorbance of the mixtures at 410 nm was measured against purified water and the concentrations of valproic acid in the samples were read from the standard calibration curve (Fig. 1).

Example 8

Correlation with GLC
Blood levels of valproic acid in patient were measured according to the method described in Example 13 using the kit described in Example 12, and the measured values (Y) were compared with values (X) obtained by gas-liquid chromatography method (GLC method).

number of samples : n = 62
correlation coefficient: r = 0.985
regression equation : Y = 0.95 X + 0.554
mean value : Y = 52.3 (y/ml)
mean value : X = 54.5 (y/ml)

Both of the values were well correlated and it was confirmed that the blood level of valproic acid could be measured accurately using the EIA (enzymoimmunoassay) kit according to the invention (Fig. 2).

Example 9

Cross reactivity with metabolites of Valproic acid
Cross reactivity of the antibody of the invention with metabolites of valproic acid known in human (R. Gugler and G.E. Unruch; Clinical Pharmaco- kinetics, 5, 67-83 [1980]) was investigated (Table 3).
Although high cross reactivity was observed in 5-hydroxyvalproic acid (55%), 4-hydroxyvalproic acid (11%) and 2-propyl-3-pentenoic acid (13%), it is found that these compounds do not disturb the determination according to the invention, because blood levels of these compounds are extremely low (Table 3).

Claims

1. Compound of the formula;

wherein n is an integer from 3 to 8, A is -NH- or =N-, W is a group of the formula -[(U)p (U¹)q (U²)_r] wherein U is -NH-, =CH- or group of the formula

U¹ is C₁-C₅ alkylene or phenylene which may be substituted by methyl, U² is -CO-, p, q and r are each 0, 1 or 2, and Z is a protein residue, or salts thereof.

2. Compound according to claim 1 wherein -W A- is a group of the formula -N=CH(CH_Z)₃CH=N-.

3. Compound according to claim 1 or 2 wherein Z is an albumin or globulin residue.

4. Compound according to claim 1 or 2 wherein Z is an enzyme residue.

5. Compound of the formula (I) as defined in the claim 1, produced by binding a compound of the formula

or salts thereof, where n is as defined in claim 1, with a protein, directly or with a help of a binding agent, said binding resulting in the conversion of the H₂N- group into a group -W A- as defined in claim 1.

6. An antibody which is obtained by immunizing an animal with a compound as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3.

7. An antibody according to claim 6 which is fixed on water-insoluble substance.

8. A kit suitable for immunoassay of valproic acid comprising separately stored component A and component B wherein component A is an antibody as claimed in claim 6 or 7 and component B is an enzyme labelled antigen which is a compound as claimed in claim 4.

9. Method for determination of valproic acid which comprises (a) mixing a text sample containing valproic acid with an antibody as claimed in claim 6 or 7, and an excess of, as enzyme labelled antigen, a compound as claimed in claim 4, (b) allowing the antibody to bind with valproic acid and the labelled antigen competitively, and (c) measuring the activity of bound or free labelled antigen.

10. Method according to claim 9, wherein said antibody is combined with a second antibody which has affinity for said antibody, before step (c).

11. Method according to claim 9 or 10 wherein the bound and free labelled antigen are separated before step (c).